Assistant Chief Constable Bob Skinner's legendary cool is shaken when he's faced with the brutally murdered bodies of his wife's parents. At the death scene in New York state, Skinner's out of his jurisdiction - but he's not going to let that stop him shaping the investigation. Soon it's clear that there's a killer hunting down a group of men with links that go back to the sixties, and that he's acting on instructions from highly placed sources. But just how high? Meantime back in Edinburgh Detective Superintendent Maggie Rose and her husband Mario, Divisional CID commander, are faced with a secret from that past that could bring their days in the police force crashing to a halt. And Skinner's not on hand to give out advice...